A TEMPORARY site for travellers is set to be built in Dudley borough after plans were passed by the local authority's cabinet.

Dudley Council is looking to set up a three-year temporary transit site in Budden Road, Coseley, as a way to combat spending £150,000 a year - which it has done since 2015 - to clean up after illegal visits.

A disused, council-owned site was among a number of locations which were assessed on a range of criteria including land ownership, access, availability, planning policy and any other factors.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: “In recent years we have seen a rise in the number of unauthorised camps. These are expensive and cost Dudley taxpayers thousands of pounds in clean up and legal costs.

“We want to take action and put a stop to this.

“Creating the temporary travellers’ site will give us greater control of our land and cut the time we spend going through the legal process to move travellers that have camped up illegally.”

The cost to create the transit site, for which travellers pay rent to cover costs of power, water and waste disposal, will set the council back £280,000.

But Cllr Harley said: “If we have to keep paying out £150,000 over the next three years – although I personally think it would be two or three times that – paying £280,000 now is a saving.”